MS contributing to Linux

[Liam Proven]

2009/7/23 Smoot Carl-Mitchell <smoot at tic.com>:
> On Thu, 2009-07-23 at 20:12 +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
>> 2009/7/23 Smoot Carl-Mitchell <smoot at tic.com>:
>> > >>
>> >> Secondly, MS did not choose to give away the source, it had to,
>> >> because it has been caught violating the GPL.
>> >
>> > Folks, MS did not have to GPL the source.
>>
>> YES THEY DID. This is the entire point of this story.
>>
>> MS linked its own code with GPL code in the drivers. This is in
>> violation of the GPL, so they either had to withdraw the offending
>> code or release the whole lot under the GPL.
>
> I stand corrected.  I had thought they simply created loadable modules
> for the drivers.  If they linked their code to GPLed code, then they are
> required to release it under the GPL if they want to resell the drivers.
> I find it amazing they botched it in this manner.

Well, quite!

> And good for the FOSS
> community to catch them at this.

Absolutely.

> I am not promoting anything.  I am pointing out the realities of many
> Microsoft server shops these days.  I hope the folks in charge of
> virtualization in these shops will look at alternatives, but I am not
> naive enough to think they all will.

I'm not saying you're advertising it or anything, but this is a public
list; anything we say will be found by Google eventually and used as
evidence!

There are lots of free ways to try out virtualisation on Windows;
Hyper-V, for all that it's free, is probably one of the most
expensive, because it runs on the single most costly version of
Windows.

(Similarly, when some people said that Windows 2008 Server was "Vista
done right", I suspect MS were very happy. If people wanted to run a
£500 OS instead of a £100 one, MS would be delighted!)

Better to point out the benefits of VirtualBox or VirtualPC - which
cost nothing.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
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